Many people have drawers in their homes filled with plastic grocery bags they plan to one day reuse. Given that those bags are used to bundle up purchases at nearly every North Texas store, that collection's growth can quickly outpace the rate of reuse.

The thought of the piles of plastic bags have kept Tony Garrett of Garland awake at night. He wrote a letter to The Dallas Morning News recently asking us, “Why don’t grocery stores offer paper or plastic bags anymore? It’s just plastic. What happened to paper? Wouldn’t paper be easier to recycle?

“These are thoughts that come at 3 a.m.,” he added.

Garrett’s questions to Curious Texas are excellent, and we went rummaging for a bagful of answers.

Curious Texas is a special project from The Dallas Morning News. You ask questions, our journalists find answers.

Curious Texas is an ongoing project from The News that invites you to join in our reporting process. The idea is simple: You have questions, and our journalists are trained to track down answers.

You can send us your Curious Texas questions by texting "DMN" to 214-817-3868. Follow the prompts and introduce yourself to us, share your story or questions, and we'll text you with information as we report the story.

Paper grocery bags are more eco-friendly because they can be recycled. Dallas recycling spokespeople advise against recycling plastic bags at all.

Austin Ellis, the general manager for FCC Environmental Services at Dallas’ recycling center, told The News in August that plastic bags tend to wrap around the recycling center’s equipment.

“Take these bags back to Kroger or wherever you got them and they can recycle them,” he said.

But there’s a reason why plastic grocery bags haven’t left several parts of Texas.

In 2015, at least a dozen Texas cities had bag bans. Former Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway unsuccessfully attempted multiple times — in 2013 and in 2015 — to have an outright ban on plastic bags in Dallas.

A sign on the door at a 99 Cents Only store at Live Oak and Carroll streets in East Dallas posted an apology to customers in 2015 for having to charge 5¢ for bags due to a new Dallas city ordinance. The ordinance was repealed later that year.

Retailers were allowed to provide free bags as long as they were considered “multi-use.” The multi-use bags had to meet a “minimum reuse testing standard” of 100 uses carrying the weight of a standard bowling ball, according to The News’ archives.

Edward Hartmann of the Texas Campaign for the Environment came dressed as a "plastic bag monster" to address the Dallas City Council's Quality of Life committee at a November 2013 meeting.

(2013 File Photo/Staff)

But the 5-cent fee was short-lived.

Plastic bag makers sued the city in 2015, and the City Council voted to repeal the ordinance just five months after it took effect.

Other Texas cities continued to ban plastic bags, including Laredo and Austin, after Dallas’ failed attempt.

A checker at the Cityplace Target in Dallas loads a customer's purchases into a reusable bag.

The court’s ruling stated that bag bans violate state law — specifically, the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act — preventing local governments from restricting the sale of certain packages or containers as a way to reduce trash.

Bags are not explicitly included in the state’s trash law, but the Supreme Court believed the bags fit the definition.

So, we hate to break it to Garrett, but it appears that plastic bags are here to stay for now. If he’s concerned about adding waste, reusable cloth or plastic bags are a great alternative.